Water Quantity & Quality

Category Archives: war

Explanation for increase in sex workers in Ukraine and increasing prices….inflation not Veblen goods?

Econofix writes/cites in his blog:

Neither are sex services consistent with other types of goods that have upward-sloping demand (Giffen goods, goods with network effects, goods with bandwagon effects).

More likely, Uralpolit.ru and the Moscow Times have demonstrated temporary economic illiteracy. Increased supply doesn’t increase prices. On the other hand, inflation does increase prices and that is what is being observed.

The new Interior Minister of the Ukrainian government is Dmytro Yarosh, leader of the Right Sector. Here are some excerpts from a review he gave during the Maidan to Mustafa Nayyem and Oksana Kovalenko, two Ukrainian journalists: (click here).

“I’m the founder and leader of the all-Ukrainian organization Stepan Bandera Trident since 1994, holding various positions from commander to chief inspector. Trident is like an order of knights, propagandizing Stepan Bandera’s Ukrainian nationalist ideology, promoting patriotism among Ukrainian youth, and defending the honor and dignity of the Ukrainian nation by all means available. It created Right Sector to coordinate the actions of various revolutionary groups.

Training takes place at camps throughout Ukraine: Besides military training, we organize events aimed at the de-communization and decolonization of Ukraine.”

V. Putin’s hoped in the NYT spurred on international and national dialogue about USA probable invasion of Syria. Max Fisher of the Washington Post takes the editorial line by line to fact check and analyzed it. Here is a brief excerpt to wet your curiosity with a link to Max Fisher’s complete analysis of Putin’s NYT op ed.

“Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.” Putin NYT

This is true, and a real dilemma for Obama, given that he is attempting to portray strikes against Syria as meant to uphold international law against the use of chemical weapons.

Still, you’ll be shocked to learn that Putin does not hold himself to the same standard he’s setting here for Obama. Putin’s Russia launched a war against Georgia just five short years ago. He would argue that the war was justified, but it certainly wasn’t approved by the United Nations Security Council. Max Fisher Washington Post

“No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.” Putin NYT

This is the section of the op-ed that’s drawing by far the most criticism. There is very little reason to believe that rebels carried out the attack but strong circumstantial evidence that chemical weapons were used by the Assad regime. Max Fisher Washington Post

Excerpt from Institute for War and Peace (IWPR) reporter John McLeod on border tensions developing in Central Asia over water for irrigation and hydroelectric energy production: Uzbekistan remains resolutely opposed to hydroelectric dams under construction in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which it believes will obstruct the normal flow of water down the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. The water is essential to its population and for its irrigated agriculture. Kazakstan and Turkmenistan are also dependent on this water, but have been less outspoken on the Tajik and Kyrgyz dam projects. Qurbon Yovshanov, a political analyst in Tashkent, notes that Nazarbaev mentioned water shortages in Kazakstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan during his meeting with Karimov last month. Yovshanov said Karimov was now trying to spur his Turkmen and Kazak neighbours on to more “radical measures” to block Tajik and Kyrgyz energy plans. http://iwpr.net/report-news/uzbeks-seek-turkmen-support-water-dispute